Posted 2008-06-01 6:42 AM (#84958) Subject: nitrogen filled tires
Veteran
Posts: 282 Location: southcentral pennsylvania
According to an article today on Horsecity.com, nitrogen filled tires offer "reduced tire wear, increased fuel efficiency, yield consistent tire pressure," plus a host of other positive attributes. The cost is about $7 per small tire, and $15 per large tire. Evidently the rodeo community is starting to use this technology. Have any of you used nitrogen in your truck/trailer tires? What is your opinion....is the juice worth the squeeze?
Posted 2008-06-01 7:34 AM (#84959 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 1416 Location: sc
No it is not worth the money. "Air" is 78% nitrogen to start with. A tire with air will lose 1-2 psi a month, a tire with nitrogen will lose less.......but if you check the tires like your supposed to they will be properly inflated. Most of the claims, "reduced tire wear, increased fuel efficiency, yield consistent tire pressure" are based on an underinflated tire and the fact people dont check the air pressure consistently.
Posted 2008-06-01 10:40 AM (#84973 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
Nitrogen will not support the oxidation that occurs to the inner carcass of a tire. However the life span of your tires is such that this a non issue. For all the reasons that were given for nitrogen's usage, the only one that counts, is the additional profit the sales person will gain from your usage of it.
In the commercial aviation field it is commonly used for several purposes. For the average person it is overkill, not necessary and a waste of money.
Posted 2008-06-01 11:14 AM (#84977 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 544 Location: Claxton, Ga.
I have used it and liked it. The only issue is nobody has nitrogen close to me so the trip to get it done is 45 min. away. That's the bad part. Only reason I like running it is due to heat related issues. At this time I am not using it. Replaced tires last year under goodyear warranty and they did not have Nitrogen.
Posted 2008-06-01 11:53 AM (#84980 - in reply to #84977) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 1416 Location: sc
Originally written by Spooler on 2008-06-01 12:14 PM
I have used it and liked it. The only issue is nobody has nitrogen close to me so the trip to get it done is 45 min. away. That's the bad part. Only reason I like running it is due to heat related issues. At this time I am not using it. Replaced tires last year under goodyear warranty and they did not have Nitrogen.
What were the before and after results of your "heat related issues"?
Posted 2008-06-01 9:11 PM (#84999 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 544 Location: Claxton, Ga.
I didn't use it long enough to get any good postable results. Just put it in my truck tires and had the darn factory goodyears cracking on the inside of the sidewalls not even 6 months later. Warrantied them all out and haven't put it back in. That was last year. Never pulled the trailer down to have them done. Thought about it. If and when it becomes more available I will try it again. With fuel prices the way they are I am not pulling it 45 min. one way to have it done. Plus it was in Savannah, Ga. and it would be a tight place to get into with lots of traffic so I said the heck with it. Been running regular old air for years.
Posted 2008-06-02 12:54 AM (#85013 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Regular
Posts: 97 Location: Newport News, VA
A friend of mine bought a new car, about a year or so ago. The dealer wanted to charge her $60 for nitrogen in the tires. I told her to tell them to let it out and put in regular air! No way am I paying $60 for air in my tires! I think they made it a deal breaker and the dealer relented. I don't know if she got the nitrogen for free or if they just left "air" in her tires. I had heard on some show that the nitrogen thing was basically just a money maker.
Posted 2008-06-02 8:19 AM (#85023 - in reply to #85017) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 3802 Location: Rocky Mount N.C.
Originally written by Longrider on 2008-06-02 7:29 AM
I'm thinking of putting helium in my tires so it will lighten the load for when I have to pull into the DMV scales.
We put $$$$$$ of Helium in a pair of 30.5 x 32 tractor pulling tire back in 1980... It lightened it up by about 24# ,LOL!! We've spent alot more money on other things and didn't get as big of a laugh from it!! Tractor still weighed better than 10,000# when we finished. I forget how many cylinders it took and what it cost, but we were willing to give it a try!!
Posted 2008-06-02 11:07 AM (#85048 - in reply to #85024) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 1416 Location: sc
Originally written by hosspuller on 2008-06-02 8:29 AM
To all who had Nitrogen tire inflation foisted on them...
Just how did the nitrogen dealer get all the ordinary air out of the tires? Or did they just let the tire go flat then pressurize with nitrogen?
Seems that a $30 bottle of compressed nitrogen = a great deal of money in the tire inflation market.
That is something I asked when the tire dealer put tires on my car....he wanted to sell me nitrogen. I asked him if he knew air was 78% nitrogen to start with.........then I asked him how he could pull a vacuum on the tire, to get all the regular "air" out, and still keep the beads seated???? He just sort of looked at me, I told him no thanks.
Posted 2008-06-02 1:50 PM (#85067 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Location: Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain...
Paul,
That was very interesting reading. The part that I absorbed on this the most is that the profit margin is 416%! What you are paying $25 for, is costing them $6. Now I am all about free enterprise and making a profit, but this is a little ridiculous. Paying $25 for 17-21% more nitrogen in my tires than what is there naturally, and then as I check my tires and add air to them, my percentage starts dropping. (That is unless I don't check them because I now have nitrogen!) Then I read about how you have to have 93% to get the full benefits of running the nitrogen. That only leaves 2%-6% nitrogen that I can lose for it to be beneficial....so what costs me more, is actually not doing anything for me...so really, where is the benefit? In someone else's pocket, that's where.
Posted 2008-06-02 2:40 PM (#85069 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
Retendo hit it exactly. Aviation and race cars benefit from the usage of nitrogen. Trucks, automobiles and horse trailers don't. The only people who will be enriched are the sales persons touting dubious benefits.
Posted 2008-06-02 2:48 PM (#85071 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Elite Veteran
Posts: 795 Location: Tenn/Ala.
The construction industry favors nitrogen. Any recent Caterpillar owner's manual states that the tires are to be refilled with nitogen. States that it is used to reduce seepage and reduce the need to for inflation adjustments (not an exact quote). I'm not drawing any conclusions, just pointing out. But then again, inflating a backhoe tire at an inopportune moment might rank right up there with the horse trailer in a gas station at 6:00PM on a Friday. We don't seem to have the time to check either one.
RTSmith
Paul .. Thanks for the link.. I learned something new. However, Tresvolte has a most important point about N2 inflation. Even a N2 filled tire has some pressure loss. If one has to wait and travel to a filling station, then most of the fuel saving benefits are lost, waiting also damages the tire from heat developed when underinflated, and finally... N2 cost. For most horse people, I would say ordinary air, pressure checked at home before each trip is a better use of limited (usually) money.
For the gear heads... a bottle of N2 and a regulator is definitely desired. Waiting for my 100 psi compressor to fill an 80 psi tire is painful. 200 psi to the tire chuck is something I'd like. Plus the lack of effect N2 has on the tire rubber is attractive.
On second thought, how about Argon? I already have a bottle of that for my welder. Anybody know the molecule size of Argon relative to Nitrogen?
Posted 2008-06-03 12:17 AM (#85105 - in reply to #85101) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 2614
Well I know this is but: whether they're filled with air,O2,Co2,N2 or whatever,be sure of this: that those tires aren't too OLD! Else it won't matter if they are filled with the breath of angels,they're gonna go,just at the wrong time and maybe be the wrong place! (Voice of experience,see thanks officer Hicks thread!)
Posted 2008-06-03 9:04 AM (#85123 - in reply to #84958) Subject: RE: nitrogen filled tires
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
Aircraft wheels are constructed of magnesium. In the case of a fire, they will support combustion. If the tires were pressurized with air, the contained oxygen under pressure, would greatly support an inferno. Any failure of the nearby hydraulic brake lines which are pressurized to 3000 pounds, and the whole aircraft gear assembly would be quickly involved in a fire.
Nitrogen is an inert gas and will not support combustion.
Here's a link to some generic aircraft sheduled maintenance that includes tire inflations and the useage of nitrogen. You will notice that it is used as a safety factor and to prevent casing oxidation
nitrogen filled tires
but: whether they're filled with air,O2,Co2,N2 or whatever,be sure of this: that those tires aren't too OLD! Else it won't matter if they are filled with the breath of angels,they're gonna go,just at the wrong time and maybe be the wrong place! (Voice of experience,see thanks officer Hicks thread!) 
